Passive optical networks are becoming prevalent in part because service providers want to deliver high bandwidth communication capabilities to customers. Passive optical networks are a desirable choice for delivering high speed communication data because they may not employ active electronic devices, such as amplifiers and repeaters, between a central office and a subscriber termination. The absence of active electronic devices may decrease network complexity and/or cost and may increase network reliability.
FIG. 1 illustrates a network 100 deploying passive fiber optic lines. As shown at FIG. 1, the network 100 may include a central office 110 that connects a number of end subscribers 115 (also called end users 115 herein) within the network 100. The central office 110 may additionally connect to a larger network such as the Internet (not shown) and a public switched telephone network (PSTN). The network 100 may also include fiber distribution hubs (FDHs) 130 having one or more optical splitters (e.g., 1-to-8 splitters, 1-to-16 splitters, or 1-to-32 splitters) that generate a number of individual fibers that may lead to the premises of an end user 115. The various lines of the network 100 can be aerial or housed within underground conduits (e.g., see conduit 105).
A portion of the network 100 that is closest to the central office 110 is generally referred to as an F1 region, where F1 is the “feeder fiber” from the central office 110. The F1 portion of the network 100 may include a distribution cable having on the order of 12 to 48 fibers; however, alternative implementations may include fewer or more fibers. A portion of the network 100 that includes at least one of the FDHs 130 and at least one of the end users 115 may be referred to as an F2 portion of the network 100. Splitters used in the typical FDH 130 may split incoming fibers of a feeder cable into, for example, 216 to 432 individual distribution fibers that may be associated with a like number of end user 115 locations.
Referring to FIG. 1, the network 100 includes a plurality of break-out locations 125 at which branch cables 122 are separated out from main cable lines 120. The break-out locations 125 can also be referred to as tap locations, drop cable locations, splice locations or branch locations. The branch cables 122 can also be referred to as drop cables, drop lines, break-out cables or stub cables. The branch cables 122 are often connected to drop terminals 104 that include connector interfaces for facilitating coupling the fibers of the branch cables 122 to a plurality of different subscriber locations 115. The branch cables 122 are also often connected to FDHs 130.
Within the FDH 130, incoming optical fibers, from the central office 110, can be connected to outgoing optical fibers, leading to the end users 115, forming an optical signal connection. Each of the incoming optical fibers may be split into multiple intermediate fibers. Each of these intermediate fibers may also be connected to one of the outgoing optical fibers, forming an optical signal connection. The optical signal connections can be reconfigured within the FDH 130. For example, a particular incoming fiber may be initially connected to a first outgoing fiber but may be disconnected and instead connected to a second outgoing fiber. Certain unused incoming fibers and/or intermediate fibers may not be connected to any of the outgoing fibers. There is a need to organize and store these unused incoming fibers and/or intermediate fibers in configurations convenient to specific applications. There is also a need for an FDH that provides organization and storage for incoming and intermediate fibers that is adaptable to multiple configurations, the configuration being selected based on the intended application. The FDH 130 may be mounted in various applications and locations. There is a need for the mounting of the FDH 130 to be adaptable to conveniently match various applications and locations. The present disclosure satisfies these and other needs.